This is what the streets of London look like to a driverless car

Mansion House as seen by Lidar

Mapping company Here has mapped London in preparation for the arrival of autonomous cars -- expected to be hitting the capital's streets as soon as next year.

The company used Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology to build the data that can be used by driverless cars to understand their environment, as seen in these 3D models.

By using vehicles equipped with a five-foot rig full of mapping equipment, the company is able to record 700,000 3D data sections per second, which it said allows it to pinpoint curbs, trees and road furniture to a 10cm accuracy.

Published: May 3, 2016 -- 15:03 GMT (08:03 PDT)

Photo by: Image: Here

Caption by: Steve Ranger

Buckingham Palace

When driverless vehicles hit the roads, one of they key components will be mapping. Here's HD Live Map consists of three separate layers: the HD Map layer which maps road lanes and boundaries. This layer also details the lane type, road markings and speed limit information.

The second layer is the 'Live Roads' data, which tells the vehicle about upcoming congestion, temporary road layouts and adverse weather. It does this by processing real-time sensor data from vehicles already on the road and integrating real-time information about traffic, weather and road conditions. For example, the live roads layer can help the vehicle avoid congestion, or change lanes in case of an accident ahead.

Published: May 3, 2016 -- 15:03 GMT (08:03 PDT)

Photo by: Image: Here

Caption by: Steve Ranger

Trafalgar Square

The third component is the 'Humanised Driving layer', which analyses existing driver data so that the vehicle knows the appropriate speed to travel in certain driving conditions. As Here notes: "Just because the speed limit is 60mph, it doesn't mean the car should take a corner on a country road at this speed".

Published: May 3, 2016 -- 15:03 GMT (08:03 PDT)

Photo by: Image: Here

Caption by: Steve Ranger

Kings Road

Each of the Here collection vehicles carries a five-foot rig containing mapping hardware. The base is an inertial measurement unit, which collects data about the motion of the car. This information is used to augment the wider dataset with details about hills or turns in the road. Next comes the 24-megapixel camera for a 360 degree view and then the Lidar sensor. At the top of the rig is the GPS system, which records the co-ordinates where the data is captured - in this case Kings Road, London.

Published: May 3, 2016 -- 15:03 GMT (08:03 PDT)

Photo by: Image: Here

Caption by: Steve Ranger

The Gherkin

Here has been collecting raw data for a number of years and said it has developed maps for nearly 200 countries worldwide.

Published: May 3, 2016 -- 15:03 GMT (08:03 PDT)

Photo by: Image: Here

Caption by: Steve Ranger

Trafalgar Square

Last year Nokia sold the Here mapping business to a group of car manufacturers made up of Audi, BMW and Daimler for €2.8bn. This image shows another 3D model of Trafalgar Square.

Here is just one of the companies building up extremely detailed maps of the world's road systems. Apple, Google and other car companies are also building their own too.

Mapping company Here has used Lidar to build up 3D models of the capital's roads.

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Trafalgar Square

The third component is the 'Humanised Driving layer', which analyses existing driver data so that the vehicle knows the appropriate speed to travel in certain driving conditions. As Here notes: "Just because the speed limit is 60mph, it doesn't mean the car should take a corner on a country road at this speed".